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The ‘accident’ that became a Gilbert murder case BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
BESTOF
2023
Gilbert Best of
WHO’S
the BEST? The votes are in. The people have spoken… It’s the Best of Gilbert!
COMMUNITY............ 35 HD SOUTH looks at the Heritage District of yesteryear.
N
o one outside of Mark Eric Ponsati knows what exactly happened the night he beat his wife to death in their Gilbert home. As far as the State of Arizona is concerned, the truth died with Sherri Posanti. But Mark Posanti man will spend the next two decades in state prison for her murder, which he staged as a slip and fall in the master bathroom. Ponsati, 42, received the maximum sentence after a jury in March convicted him in the second-degree murder of 33-year-old wife on Sept. 7, 2017. With credit for time served, his release date is Sept. 7, 2042.
San Tan Village salon personalizes skin care. COMMUNITY............................. 35 BUSINESS...................................38 OPINION..................................... 41 SPORTS.......................................42 CLASSIFIEDS............................. 45
Mark Ponsati claimed his wife died in a fall at their Gilbert home. Police proved otherwise. (Special to GSN)
His sentencing on May 19 ended a case that Gilbert police quickly unraveled after examining the couple’s Val Vista Lakes home. But what will never end is the pain of Sherri’s murder on her two children and her mother. “I think about her every day, multiple times a day,” said Susan Klausch, Sherri’s mother. “I think about the kids and how could he do this to the mother of his kids and his wife. It’s unbelievable.” Klausch flew from Wisconsin to attend the sentencing and read a victim impact statement. “Losing Sherri has changed my life forever,” Klausch told the judge. “The pain of living without Sherri is unbearable. How can
see PONSATI page 6
Gilbert remembers fallen warriors tomorrow GSN NEWS STAFF
A
BUSINESS..................38
Sunday, May 28, 2023
retired U.S. Army officer and decorated combat veteran will speak at a Memorial Day ceremony, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Monday, May 29 at Gilbert Civic Center’s lawn, 50 E. Civic Center Drive. People can help by signing up at justserve. org to clean up the venue after the ceremony. Tom Eisiminger served in the Army’s Field Artillery during Desert Shield/Desert Storm and retired in 2005 as a lieutenant colonel. The Persian Gulf War was waged in 1990-91 to defend Saudi Arabia after Iraq invaded Kuwait. The Arab emirate was liberated at a cost of 96 U.S. soldiers killed in action, two died of
wounds and 105 non-hostile deaths. In his 20-plus years of military service, Eisiminger held numerous leadership positions from platoon to battalion command. He managed the largest geographically dispersed Army Recruiting Battalion responsible for operations in SW Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and the Freely Associated States of the Republic of the Marshall Island, Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. He twice earned awards as top recruiting
see MEMORIAL page 4
Army Lt. Col. (Ret) Tom Eisminger is the featured speaker at Gilbert’s Memorial Day ceremony. (Special to GSN)